There was no house of Israel in the 1st century

[Epoisses]

The OP is correct, but a few clarifications are needed:

God divorced the House of Israel (10 tribes).God scattered them amongst the nations, God had no mercy on them, and God told them they were not a people.

In Hosea, it was said that one day God would return to them, and tell them that they were a people.

That promise happened when the New Covenant was made with the shed blood of Christ Jesus on the cross. Peter confirms the Hosea promise (1 Peter 2:10).

Because the Israelites were scattered amongst the Gentiles for over 700 years, they became like Gentiles, and by the time the first century came, most of the Israelites from the 10 tribes could not be distinguished from a pagan Gentile.

The gospel went to the Jew first, then the Gentile. That is how all of Israel was saved, and that is how the promise of a New Covenant to both houses was fulfilled.

All who have faith in Christ Jesus are the sons of Abraham, the Israel of God.

At least there is some intelligence out there. Many of the early Jewish Christians were Hellenistic Jews who rejected the Torah, food restrictions and most things Jewish but gladly accepted Christ and the gospel. It is believed that many of the 'Gentiles' in Galatia were of the Hellenized Jews which explains why Paul rebuked them so sharply for returning to the defunct Torah. The typical Gentile believer that came from idolatry would never be drawn back to the Jewish Torah.

 

[Epoisses]

Don't know why this is so hard for you Darby Followers to understand.

More like impossible for Darby's followers to understand.

 

[Epoisses]

Paul was either Saul's family name or last name, or just another name he went by. It looks like he changed his name because he was corresponding with Gentiles and didn't want or need to identify himself as a Benjamite in his ministry to Gentiles.

Acts 13:9 (KJV) "also" ; confer Acts 13:7 (KJV) "Sergius Paulus"

This is true but a name change does indicate conversion as with Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel and the overcomers in Revelation receive a new name.

 

[Epoisses]

In Hosea, it was said that one day God would return to them, and tell them that they were a people.

That promise happened when the New Covenant was made with the shed blood of Christ Jesus on the cross. Peter confirms the Hosea promise (1 Peter 2:10).

This statement is preposterous seeing that at one time the house of Israel was in fact God's chosen people. Paul also quotes Hosea in Romans 9 and unmistakably applies it to the Gentiles just like Peter. The Gentiles were brought in to replace the fallen house of Israel and everyone knows it except the woefully ignorant. Gentiles are part of the new covenant promise that was only for the house of Judah and the house of Israel. It is my opinion that converted Jews fall into the spiritual house of Judah and converted Gentiles fall into the spiritual house of Israel. The house of Judah was higher than the house of Israel indicating that converted Jews are higher than converted Gentiles in God's economy. The church was originally started by ethnic and converted Jews.

 

[chair]

Black is White and White is Black when reality doesn't match your beliefs.

 

[SaulToPaul 2]

More like impossible for Darby's followers to understand.

Still 12 tribes in the first century. Fact.

 

[jamie]

The Gentiles were brought in to replace the fallen house of Israel

"I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

This promise is through Isaac and Jacob.

 

[tetelestai]

The Gentiles were brought in to replace the fallen house of Israel

Here's how I understand it:

The Israelites from the 10 tribes were removed from their Northern nation and scattered amongst the Gentiles. They were very numerous, because Joseph had the birthright blessing (Judah the Sceptra). There were millions of them.

Before they were scattered, they acted like pagans, and worshipped pagan gods.

After 700 years of intermarrying with pagan Gentiles, and acting like pagans, they could not be distinguished from a pagan Gentile in the first century.

However, the promise of the New Covenant was still in effect for them. So, the only way the promise could be kept was to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. This included Gentiles who had no lineage to Jacob, Gentiles who did have a lineage to Jacob, and Gentiles who had a mixed lineage.

IOW, the Gentiles included the descendants of the 10 tribes. That is how "all of Israel shall be saved".

The gospel went to the Jews only before the cross because it would have been against the Law for a man to re-marry his divorced wife. The house of Israel was the divorced wife.

That's why before the cross Jesus tells His Disciples not to go amongst the Samaritans or Gentiles, but then after the cross, Jesus tells them to preach to the Samaritans and Gentiles.

 

[tetelestai]

Still 12 tribes in the first century. Fact.

Of course there was.

The 12 tribes were united when Christ Jesus took the stick of Judah and joined it with the stick of Joseph, making one stick, when the New Covenant was made at the cross with His shed blood.

Also, when you say "first century", you should be more specific, as there is a big difference before the cross vs. after the cross.

 

[SaulToPaul 2]

Of course there was.

The 12 tribes were united when Christ Jesus took the stick of Judah and joined it with the stick of Joseph, making one stick, when the New Covenant was made at the cross with His shed blood.

Also, when you say "first century", you should be more specific, as there is a big difference before the cross vs. after the cross.

but can never come to terms with the fact that only the house of Judah remained in the 1st century.

 

[tetelestai]

Originally Posted by Epoisses
but can never come to terms with the fact that only the house of Judah remained in the 1st century.

If he's referring to before the cross, then he is correct.

 

[SaulToPaul 2]

If he's referring to before the cross, then he is correct.

Luke 2:36 (KJV)

 

[tetelestai]

The two verses that destroy Dispensationalism:

(Hosea 1:10KJV) Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

(1 Peter 2:10KJV) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Darby Followers claim Peter was addressing Jews.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In Hosea, the Jews were given mercy, and were the people of God.

Only the Israelites from the 10 tribes were told God would have no mercy on them, and that they were "not my people".

Peter's audience were the Israelites from the 10 tribes, NOT Jews.

 

[tetelestai]

Luke 2:36 (KJV)

Anna was a descendant of the remnant. Read Romans 11, and all of 2 Chronicles.

When Anna was alive in Luke 2:36, the two houses were still divided. The House of Israel was still the divorced wife of God, The tens of millions of Israelites from the 10 tribes (not Anna and the descendants of the remnant) were still "not my people", and God had yet to have mercy on them, and make them His people.

 

[SaulToPaul 2]

Anna was a descendant of the remnant. Read Romans 11, and all of 2 Chronicles.

When Anna was alive in Luke 2:36, the two houses were still divided. The House of Israel was still the divorced wife of God, The tens of millions of Israelites from the 10 tribes (not Anna and the descendants of the remnant) were still "not my people", and God had yet to have mercy on them, and make them His people.

There were still 12 tribes.

 

[tetelestai]

There were still 12 tribes.

There was always 12 tribes.

The two houses were divided, and the House of Israel was divorced from God.

 

[tetelestai]

Another verse that destroys Dispensationalism, and confirms that the Gentiles were the descendants of the 10 tribes:

(Gen 48:19 KJV) And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

Ephraim is the son of Joseph (who was given the birthright blessing)Ephraim is the younger brother in Gen 48:19 who Jacob says will become "a multitude of nations".

Now, we all know from history, that the Jews never became a multitude of nations.

It was the descendants of Ephraim who became "a multitude of nations".

Hundreds of years after Ephraim, Ezekiel gave the following prophecy:

(Ezk 37:16) "And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, 'For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'

As prophesied by Ezekiel, the descendants of Ephraim, were joined with the descendants of Judah (the Jews) when the New Covenant was made at the cross with the shed blood of Jesus.

 

[SaulToPaul 2]

For the record, how many death knells are there currently?

 

[tetelestai]

(John 7:35 KJV) Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?

As we see above, the Jews of the first century called the dispersed Israelites who lived amongst the Gentiles..."Gentiles".

 

[tetelestai]

For the record, how many death knells are there currently?

Apparently not enough for you to stop being a follower of Darby.